Friday, 17 April 2009

WE are at WildTalk

The next week will see a very disrupted schedule at WildEarth, and unfortunately it is not very well oriented to our all important North American audience. You see, WE are at WildTalk Africa in Durban South Africa until Thursday next week, and WE need to ensure that as much of our premium content is concentrated into the time that our stand is active at the conference, which is during our daytime. WE are also doing two presentations, and the LIVE feed from Djuma plays a role in these too. (Please visit our schedule to see what's planned)Please appreciate that WE are fully aware that this does not suit our valued viewers, and that is why WE usually work from so early in the morning until so late at night, but for these few days it is important that WE put our best foot forward during our (CAT) daylight times.It is an important conference because this is our opportunity to try and convince the wildlife TV industry that LIVE broadcasting has a role to play, and one day in the future, you might get an opportunity to see LIVE wildlife on your own TV. Companies like Earth-Touch, AfriCam, National Geographic, Animal Planet, WildEarth and the BBC, and so many others will be discussing and showcasing what it is that makes us all special and unique.On another note, you will have noticed the change in aspect ratio to 16:9 and you might have noticed the increase in resolution. Well one of the short term consequences of these upgrades, is that the archives are not working. The reason is that WE have changed from the VP6 codec to the better H.264 codec and this is a touch harder to archive. Zaplive are doing their level best to work on this, but WE kinda dumped them in this on a weekend so they may only be able to get it working during next week. Frankly this was a mistake on my part, but I promise that it will be worked out. Sometimes we make mistakes ... well, it's in my nature.Also, getting our new super high speed line in has proved somewhat more complex than expected and so this will only be working on Monday, all things going according to plan. You have no idea how many dedicated people are working on this project. Finally, Pete and the Djuma crew are burning the midnight oil trying to get the final touches to our digital Final Control working. And if that was not all; the Jigga has decided to burn out some of it's electrics just as WE need them the most! Pieter and Eric are hard at it and while the morning drive is super unlikely, you know us, every effort will be made to get that safari back on the road. So its a big SORRY for the problems, but hopefully the new systems will be worth it in the end, and more importantly, and with a bit of luck, this will be the moment when not only does the wildlife filmmaking world start taking a bit more notice of us LIVE broadcasters, but also an opportunity for us all to come a little closer together. ;-)

3 comments:

I was a little bit afraid, the new Format requires too much data, I have a very small bandwich, but I am glad, it works for me.good that the jigga is fixed!Best wishes for your presentation, i hope everything goes well!